Educator ~ Writer ~ Morgan Driver ~ Welshie Owner

Archive for July 10th, 2012

While I wait for Lily to be safely vaccinated for more public appearances, I am working (playing) with her in the yard and teaching her to retrieve sticks, balls, and rope toys. She’s a very speedy learner and so far, she is pretty consistent in racing out to “get it” and getting better with “bring it”. But she also really enjoys a good tear around the yard and dropping the toy for something far more interesting….like the trail of some night-walking critter who wanders through our yard. She air scents and ground tracks as well and her actions make me consider scenting work with her.

This morning, after our torrential rains last night, we headed out to the yard and played in the wet grass until she was ready to come in and rest for a while. While these photos are out of focus, they do give a sense of her spirited retrieves–and make me think about new cameras. . .

I haven’t yet caught her front head roll flip on camera but she tumbles end over head when she ducks to get her toy.

We are also working hard on Not Biting and managing Puppy Crazy Hour. I had been letting her race around the yard wildly but this didn’t seem to be actually doing much for the crazies except to accelerate them so I’ve taken to another accepted practice of “Time Out” when she gets too nutty. So far, this has worked extremely well and she only needs a 2 minutes time out to come back to herself from her Ms. Hyde personality. Turning my back on her when she becomes overly excited is also working very well. Eventually, I suspect that “Time Out” will be a command she knows very well and will call her to order without much else.

So far, I have focused on play training and she’s getting quite into the game. I tried organic turkey hotdogs this week but the treat made her so attentive she wouldn’t leave to be called back!! I will keep working with that and see what I can accomplish with the correct treat.